Climate change and environmental destruction are a threat to Europe and the world. Circular Economy (CE) has been identified as one of the key priorities that requires attention and actions for all organisations, regardless their size. In comparison to larger corporations, SMEs have smaller capacity and less availability of knowledge and financial resources. This makes it more difficult for them to change their operations, product design, or the sourcing of raw materials. Consequently, since SMEs & micro-enterprises represent the dominant form of business organization in Europe (around 99%), the transition to a green economy without their participation could hardly be achieved. The REFRAME project will create a CE Transition Framework specifically for small and medium businesses in construction, manufacturing and crafts industry, to help them become friendlier to the environment. It will provide the EU construction & manufacturing SMEs and micro-enterprises’ employees and future employees with practical knowledge on implementing CE transition in their business. A ‘sizable, growing and active’ REFRAME on-line community will be created, with main objective the Up-to-date insight in Circular Economy, the exchange of know-how and good practices among the participants and the successful implementation of a CE transition for all SMEs and mixro-enterprises. Under the REFRAME, there will be developed: 1) an Interactive Self-Rate Tool (IO1) for effectively assessing the current status of a company in relation to Circular Economy (CE) principles and strategies. 2) a Circular Economy Course (IO2) that it will provide a curriculum adopted to the needs of construction and manufacturing SMEs and micro-enterprises 3) an Implementation Framework (IO3) that will provide a systematic methodology for the target groups to implement a successful and advantageous CE transition 4) the REFRAME iLearn Tool (IO4), which will be an Open Educational Resource and will include all the above. The target-groups of the project are divided into main and secondary. Main target-groups: 1) Construction, crafts and manufacturing SMEs’ owners/managers/personnel with up to 100 employees & micro-enterprises 2) (future) employees of manufacturing SMEs (Unskilled, Adept, Skilled) 3) VET centres/trainers/consultants 4) experts that support companies with CE processes (internally or externally) Other target-groups (secondary): manufacturing SMEs associations, university/college students, municipalities and cities The target groups and the participants will be involved at every stage of the project implementation in order to assure that their needs are always adequately and fully addressed, since they will benefit directly from the project outcomes. The REFRAME partnership is composed by 6 partners from 5 EU countries, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Bulgaria and Hungary. They will all give an added value to the transfer of the project's products, thanks to their experience in Circular Economy, the Environment protection, in training sector, in digital technologies and in international cooperation.
The REFRAME project main objectives are to: - provide the EU construction & manufacturing SMEs and micro-enterprises’ employees and future employees with practical knowledge on implementing CE transition in their business. - create step-by-step guidelines for construction, manufacturing and crafts SMEs and micro-enterprises for implementing the CE Transition Framework - build a ‘sizable, growing and active’ REFRAME on-line community has been created, with main objective the up-to-date insight in CE, the exchange of know-how and good practices among the participants and the successful implementation of a CE transition for all SMEs and micro-enterprises. In this direction, the main target-groups of the project are: - Construction, crafts and manufacturing SMEs’ owners/managers/personnel with up to 100 employees & micro-enterprises - (future) employees of manufacturing SMEs (Unskilled, Adept, Skilled) - VET centres/trainers/consultants - experts that support companies with CE processes (internally or externally)
Over the last years, many European companies, especially large ones, try to incorporate Circular Economy (CE) strategies and practices into their business to use the resources in a more sustainable way. In comparison to larger corporations, SMEs have smaller capacity and less availability of knowledge and financial resources. As SMEs & micro-enterprises represent the dominant form of business organisation in Europe (around 99%), the transition to CE without their participation could hardly be achieved. Currently, there are various frameworks that aim to guide a company to adopt CE practices, but they have a limited applicability for specific businesses like construction, manufacturing and crafts (CMC) SMEs and micro-enterprises. The needs addressed by the REFRAME project are: -Lack of information about the benefits that CE can bring to SMEs, micro-enterprises and to the society -Insufficient technical and technological knowledge and skills that impede CMC SMEs and micro-enterprises from transforming their linear business model into a circular one -Dependencies of SMEs and micro-enterprises on suppliers that are not able to support CE models -Inadequate customers knowledge of the benefits of green products and services